


Christmas in Flip Flops

by deadlysansa



Series: Prompts [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Christmas Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Lily and James live in central london, The smallest bit of angst but definitely fluff, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-03-01 10:15:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23469781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deadlysansa/pseuds/deadlysansa
Summary: petals-to-fish said“Your prompt is: it’s Christmas season and I’m pulling out my fake Christmas tree only to find a giant ass spider living in it, I scream, and you (my flat neighbor) come running to my rescue”
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter
Series: Prompts [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1688392
Comments: 5
Kudos: 83





	Christmas in Flip Flops

James loved Christmas.  He was a straight up Christmas fiend. 

That being said, he didn’t own many Christmas decorations. Every year, he packed his bags and drove to his parents’ house for the holidays with his childhood friend Marlene in tow. It was a  _ lot  _ nicer than his one bedroom flat in central London where she often crashed on the sofa. 

“ _ Ow,  _ shit, shit, shit, shit,” James groaned to himself as a pile of junk slid off the shelf and into his shoulder. 

It was 6.30pm on a Saturday night two weeks before Christmas and he was standing fully in his small storage cupboard which had become a bit of a dumping ground. Unfortunately, it was also the home to his forgotten plastic Christmas tree, so here he was, pulling it from the wreckage. 

James had been renting alone for two years now, ever since his two best mates had fallen madly in love and decided James was definitely cramping their romantic bliss. That didn’t stop Sirius and Remus from demanding he host a Christmas party at his place and advising he ‘spruce it up a little’. They claimed it was because James lived closest to their favourite pubs, but he had a sneaking suspicion they were dying to get a look at the neighbour that he had maybe, possibly mentioned a couple of times since she’d moved in six months and twelve days ago. He’d also told them about her  _ boyfriend  _ and the heated argument four months and twenty-three days ago which turned him into an  _ ex-boyfriend. _ It didn’t matter. His mates had had enough of hearing about how Lily Evans in Flat 5A was making it quite clear she wasn’t ready to move on. 

Thoughts of a certain intoxicating redhead who liked to hang out in her doorway sipping coffee and rolling her eyes at him made him distracted enough to be almost taken out by an old baseball bat making a break from the top shelf. 

James’ hands finally landed upon the box in which the tree was kept and tugged it free of the dusty confines of the cupboard. Grinning at his success, James carried the tree to his small living area. He hoped it looked better than he remembered, because he only had a few strings of tinsel and the sprig of mistletoe he’d hung above his head which looked slightly pathetic. James pulled a face at the hanging berries. At Christmases gone by, he didn’t even need mistletoe for a cheeky snog but now he’d turned into someone who lingered in the lobby of his building if he knew Lily was due home. 

His saving grace for this party might have to be the festive cocktails he’d made (and sampled) earlier. James’ version of a cocktail was actually a catastrophic mixing of any alcohol he had on the shelf, but fuck it, it was red. 

“Hey, Mr Flitwick, how are you?”

He heard the familiar melodic voice in the hall thanks to the criminally thin walls and James stopped his assault on the cardboard box. He looked up at his closed front door, as though he could see Lily on the other side rooting through her bag for her keys. Every single day without fail, she took two minutes to find them. Every single day, James wondered how much crap she had in her bag and whether she was over her stupid ex yet. 

He heard a door click close and with a sigh James turned back to the tree. Maybe he should have invited her tonight, but he’d stopped asking when she turned down his first ten invitations to the pub. Even he didn’t fancy being snubbed at Christmas.

Freeing the tree, James saw that it  _ did  _ look very sad and —

“AAGH! Fuck, fuck, fuck!” James shouted as a giant black house spider darted from its hiding place in his ugly fake Christmas tree. Leaping onto the couch, he was horrified to see the spider scuttle in the same direction.

“NOT TODAY, YOU LITTLE FUCKER!” He was practically screaming at the eight legged nightmare, not aware of how loud he was being or at how he looked as a 25 year old man fleeing from a glorified bug. 

James lobbed a cushion and shouted again, as though a spider could be yelled into submission. He didn’t notice the door bang open and Lily Evans flying into his flat with the determination of an FBI agent in pursuit, flip flop poised, until she was two feet away from him.

She skidded to a stop, breathing heavily. James was frozen, fear completely forgotten as he stared at Lily  _ in his flat.  _ She had never even crossed the doormat. 

A frown was forming on her face, “What the  _ hell _ , Potter?” She stared at the spider, now still on the carpet. “Are you screaming at this  _ spider?” _

James composed himself, hand instantly going to his hair, realising it would be tricky to jump down from the sofa with any shred of masculine dignity.

“Um, no?” James replied lamely.

Lily looked up at him, smirking now. “You were.” Laughing, she dropped the hand holding her flip flop. “Oh, I can’t wait to tell Bertha in 4C that tough guy James Potter nearly cried over a spider.” 

She was practically gleeful, and James had to work hard not to just pull her up for a kiss. The only thing that stopped him confessing how much he liked her every time he opened his mouth was his emotionally buffering confidence. James refused to let his embarrassment show, and zoned in on the shoe she held. 

“All right, Evans, easy on the tears talk,” James protested. “Were you planning on defending my honour with a flip flop?” 

Face turning pink, Lily hid it behind her back. “Oh, shut it.”

“Tell me, what are the statistics on flip flops and self defence?” He teased, spurred on by her blush. 

Scowling, Lily picked up a nearby glass and trapped the spider where it was with a pointed  _ slam.  _ Oh, shit. His dream woman. 

Stepping off the couch, James grinned down at her. 

“Thanks for saving me.” 

Lily rolled her eyes. “You’re an idiot.”

“You’re the one in my flat, Evans.”

“Your door was unlocked! Which I’ve told you a million times is crazy, by the way.”

“I leave it unlocked in the hope you’ll come barging in armed with a flip flop,” He said with a mocking seriousness. 

It was at that moment he realised he was standing  _ very  _ close to her, and she smelled so bloody  _ nice _ and looked unnervingly good in a thick knitted jumper bearing Santa’s face and soft blue jeans. 

Lily’s mouth twitched then, “Is that right?”

“You never come over when I’ve asked you, I figured I’d trick you into rescuing me,” He answered smoothly, not being able to conceal a smile at their awareness of his bullshit. 

Lily’s emerald eyes glittered with mirth until she looked up and suddenly leapt away from James like she’d been electrocuted. He missed her instantly and she was a  _ metre  _ away. ‘In trouble’ was an understatement.

“Sorry,” She mumbled, tucking her hair behind both ears. “Mistletoe.” Lily pointed a delicate finger toward the ceiling. James followed her gaze and tried not to let his heart sink all the way down to his knees. 

He raised his brows, “Sorry? It’s just mistletoe.” 

“How’s Marlene?” Lily asked abruptly. Seemingly unable to meet his eye all of a sudden, she stared at the trapped spider that James was diligently ignoring. 

Now the poster boy for bafflement, he shrugged, “She’s fine,” James said quickly. “Are you friends?” 

Lily’s face was turning steadily pink and she laughed nervously, “Not really. Don’t worry, I’m not spying on you for your girlfriend or anything.”

The sentence was so funny to James that he burst out laughing. He didn’t know why Lily looked so scandalised, it was a good joke. 

Lily’s embarrassment was morphing into annoyance and she folded her arms, “Why are you  _ laughing?”  _

That’s when it hit him. His laughter died and he fixed her with an incredulous stare. 

“Do you think Marlene is my girlfriend?  _ Marlene?” _

Lily’s eyes flickered, “It’s a very logical assumption to make. She always sleeps here! She goes to your parents’ house with you!” . 

James guffawed, his mind racing to wrap around this new predicament. “Yeah, we grew up together! Mar’s parents live  _ next door _ to mine. She sleeps on the couch after a night out so she doesn’t have to drive home.” 

Lily opened her mouth to retort, but the truth struck her and she closed it. 

“Oh,” She bit her lip and James took a measured breath. She was _relieved_. He couldn’t believe he was about to ask what he did until he heard the words. 

“Wait, does my relationship status… matter to you?”

Lily covered her face with both hands. “Shut up, 5B,” she said through her fingers, voice muffled. 

James grinned, gently prizing her hands apart. Her skin was warm and soft as he slowly slid his fingers between hers, giving her the option to pull free. 

“I asked you out  _ multiple _ times. You should have said yes,” James said, not caring that his voice sounded practically yearning.

Lily watched their interlocked fingers, “I thought you were in a  _ relationship _ and felt sorry for me for being freshly single in a new area.” 

James huffed a laugh, “I definitely did  _ not _ feel bad. Evans, I’m ashamed to say I was bloody ecstatic when you got dumped.” 

Emerald eyes finally met his in indignation, “Hey! I dumped  _ him _ .” Lily chewed her tongue. “It was over as soon as I realised I fancied my neighbour more than my boyfriend.” 

James’ grin was now positively shit-eating but he didn’t care. Lily Evans fancied him - apparently, she had for a while. His gorgeous, mad, funny neighbour who yelled when his shoelaces were undone in the post room and ran to defend him when he screamed like a child at a spider. 

James stepped into her space so that the tip of their shoes were aligned. Lily inhaled swiftly, her mouth dropping open before she bit the inside of her cheek. 

“James, why do you think I stand in front of my door so long everyday when I get home?”

James smirked, so close now that their shallow breaths mingled, “You can never find your keys in that giant bag.”

“I keep my keys in my pocket,” Lily said simply, gaze flickering to his lips in a way that made his blood hum. “I just mess around in case I catch you coming in or out. All so I could share thirty seconds with you.”

“Well, next time you want to mess around,” James said in low voice, tightening their linked fingers to pull her tantalisingly closer. “You can come straight to me.” 

She smiled softly, her eyelids almost closed in a dreamlike state, “Only if you lock that bloody front door.”

Unable to resist any longer, James bent down to catch Lily’s lips with his own and she responded in kind, surging upwards into him with an urgency he could only have dreamed of.  Unlocking their hands, she plunged hers into his hair, scratching at his scalp in a way that made him groan, and he wrapped both strong arms around her waist so she was lifted off the ground. 

This was bliss. Happy fucking Christmas. 

Suddenly, Lily pulled her lips back just a fraction. 

“James,” She whispered, her breath skating over his mouth. “I just kicked over the spider glass.”

Right, the spider that had wingmanned him  _ here _ . He was still absolutely terrified of the thing. 

James tightened his grip around Lily and pressed his forehead to hers, “Get the flip flop.”

  
  
  
  



End file.
